On August 5, 1967, I left Alabama. In fact, I couldn't wait to leave. I had been stationed at Fort Rucker, near Dothan, Alabama. My tour of duty ended August 5, 1967 at 12:01 AM. By 12:02 AM I was headed north in a 1964 VW Karmann Ghia.
On August 4, 2012, I left Alabama again. Unlike 1967, this time I wanted to stay. By 7 AM our two car parade was loaded and driving along the beach one last time. North to Foley, home of Lambert's Cafe III, the Foley Railroad Museum and Stacy Rexall Drug (I don't LIKE sharing!), we were soon skirting Mobile.
| Citronelle - Best Kept Secret in S. Ala |
No problem! In Citronelle, Alabama (motto: Best Kept Secret in Southern Alabama) high school girls were selling Krispy Kreme donuts along side the road for $6 a dozen. Citronelle is home to the "Surrender Oak". According to Wikipedia, "On May 4, 1865, one of the last significant Confederate armies was surrendered by General Richard Taylor under what became known as the "Surrender Oak" in Citronelle." Though Citronelle has a Surrender Oak Festival each year, the Surrender Oak itself was destroyed in a hurricane in 1902. J. Paul Getty once shared his formula for success: Rise early, work hard, strike oil. It worked for J. Paul. It also worked for Citronelle. In 1955, oil was discovered in the area. In addition to being "the best kept secret in southern Alabama", it is also known as the oil capital of Alabama.
By shortly after 11 am, we were at a McAlister's Deli in Columbus, Mississippi. I've mentioned Columbus in my blog before. My wife and I spent the night in Columbus on February 21, 2011. We arrived after dark. My wife had bronchitis. I went in search of medicine. In the process, I nearly got mugged. When I, the muggee, made my getaway, the would-be muggers followed me back to our motel where I parked directly in front of the motel office. If I could have parked INSIDE the motel office, I would have. Our visit this year was uneventful. My motto for Columbus - "A nice place to visit - in the daylight."
At 3 pm we stopped for gas in Olive Branch, Mississippi. Memphis was dead ahead. Garmin Dave took us right through the heart of Memphis. If we'd had time, a visit to Graceland would have been nice. Alas, we had (many) miles to go, and (not too many) promises to keep before we sleep." Apologies to Robert Frost.
After dinner at a Cracker Barrel in Cape Girardeau, we began clicking off the miles to the beds where we normally lay our heads when not on vacation. As we neared St. Louis, flashes of lightning illuminated the sky to our west. A few miles west of St. Louis on I-70 the skies opened. Though our windshield wipers had pretty much been on a summer-long vacation, they were suddenly overwhelmed by a sudden cloudburst. Some drivers had to slow to near the speed limit.
As we neared home, two things happened:
1. It quit raining; and
2. Our 2-year-old granddaughter began to cry. Who could blame her? We had been on the road over 15 hours. 15 hours strapped into a child's car seat and I'd cry too.
Sixteen hours and 10 minutes after we left our Orange Beach condo we pulled into our son's (completely dry) driveway in Jefferson City.
Chief Seattle is credited with saying "Take only memories, leave nothing but footprints". We definitely took some memories (and some t-shirts - Sorry, Chief) from our family roadtrip, but we left more than footprints. After one rousing game of catch with a water bouncer ball in the Gulf, my son got back to the condo and noticed his wedding band was missing.
Guess that's as good a reason as any to go back some day.
T
There's (a) GOLD (band) in them there waves!
No comments:
Post a Comment